Home Improvement

Yesterday I went to Menards to check out the pricing on carpet. Ryan's dad may be helping us pay for it as Ryan's birthday gift. My hope is we will get our family room livable before winter. Right now it's a disgusting mess! 

When we got Zora is when it all went down hill, and she STILL isn't even fully potty trained. She will go in there if we don't keep it blocked off with a baby gate! Originally, Ryan was going to do an epoxy floor coating, but we were in for a sad surprise once the carpet came up. Turns out, the floor is raised by 2x4s on their sides with some sort of thick plywood sat on top instead of being concrete like we had thought. Now that the carpet is gone there is only the padding left covering the boards, and Zora has seen to it that it isn't even in moderately good condition.

I decided that, even though we do have pets, that the $0.48 padding will be sufficient. If our room is actually 250 square feet like Ryan estimated it will come to $120 + tax.

These are $1.49 a square foot, equaling $372.50. I'm not really sure if I actually like the blue or not, and even though I like the light tan I know any color close to white is probably a bad idea with 2 dogs and a 3 year old. Haha!

This is actually a light blue color and costs $2.09 a square foot coming to $522.50. I liked this one better, but $650 is pretty steep!

We have to replace a few of the boards as well, but I didn't get a chance to check the pricing on that. I'd assume it can't be all that much. We only need 2 for sure because the "French doors" we have leak extremely badly and water damage has caused a big hole. 

I say "French doors" because, in my opinion, French doors means BOTH sides open. Ours is more like a door next to a window the size of a door, haha!

What really stinks is carpet isn't all that room needs.

The leak in the door needs to be fixed, and fixing it will mean no longer being able to use the door, so really we need to buy an entirely new door. I've looked into it and let me tell you, French doors are NOT cheap. We also need to replace all of the trim, not just because it's the cheapest looking trim I've ever seen, but also because Zora has torn the strip off on the side of the door and under one of the windows. The piece above the door has also fallen off because the former owners had their curtain rod (holders? anchors? hardware?) screwed in through the trim.

When I first bought my sewing machine the plan was to turn the room into my sewing area. In my mind it will be half sewing room, half comfy sitting area. Eventually, when we have more than a little extra money, I want to buy a bigger sized flat screen. This way we will have a room with actual seating to entertain company. Right now our TV is in our bedroom and the only seating we have are the chairs at the kitchen table. Losing our "family room" has made our house look tiny and I cannot wait to get that space back. Plus, a sewing area is going to be amazing. I won't be cramped at my little desk in a corner of our bedroom, haha!

Impulse Buy

 Yesterday I decided to buy a new sewing pattern, and this one's for me! I have been looking at this tank top pattern since I first became interested in sewing. There was only one problem, it was $24 dollars! So I thought. Turns out, it was $24 because it was an ACTUAL pattern they mail to you and they have a downloadable version for only $10! 

Call me anal, but I have kept track of how much I've spent on sewing supplies. I also keep tabs on how much I make selling things I no longer want, things I've made, and photo session I've done. After my session with Kyleigh I was only in the hole -$59!

After my pattern purchase I read through all the instructions a few times and then put it away. That doesn't mean I stopped thinking about it! At about 8pm I had the urge to make some purchases, so L and I set out for Wal-Mart. (Don't worry, I plan to test out my new pattern on CHEAP or (wishful thinking) FREE fabric first.)

I bought fabric for a tank top and another for the tank dress. I also got L some super cute octopus fabric. I'm not sure what I'll make with that yet though, talk about impulse buying. :P I also got myself a Fiskars 2-piece rotary cutting set for $17. It came with a 45mm rotary cutter and a 6x18in self-healing mat. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to play with my new toys! After my small splurge I've brought my total to a whooping -$96.

The blue with mosaic swirls I bought for the tank dress, and the orange leopard print is what I chose for the tank.

The more I think about it though, the more I realize that's not bad at all. I have to keep in mine that includes the cost of the sewing machine and all the tools I NEEDED to get started. It has helped a lot that Ryan's grandma has given me quite a few large cuts of fabric and plans to bring me some more at the end of the week. Also, a wonderful woman on a Facebook re-gifting site gave me a decent sized box full of a bunch of different sized cuts of fabric. It's pretty awesome that there are still people out there that aren't just looking to make a buck and actually enjoy helping out other people for no other reason than to just help. I myself have actually given away a small bag different sized scraps that I didn't plan to use as well. 

These two boxes are filled with all different fabrics that I've been given. The back box is medium-large scraps and the front is all smaller pieces. The pillows were made from a fabric the woman on Facebook gave me and stuffed with an old pillow that got lumpy from washing. I ran out of stuffing, though, and the back pillow is only half full.

Now I plan to make another 12-24 month dress and finish up a couple more tissue covers while I wait for Ryan's grandma to drop off the fabric she's so amazing for giving me. Once I get my hands on that, I think I'll be making tank tops for a while. Hopefully not so much so that I get bored with them like I did the little dresses I've made so many of, haha! Although, if I'm being honest, I've made 14 tissue covers + my mistakes and am pretty bored with those too. They did give me a good break from those dresses though, which will give me good motivation to get a few more done before the weekend!

The cupcake has been sold, but the other 3 are $1 each. I may be making 1 that has ladybugs, but am unsure. Stay posted. :)

$1 each. There will be 1 more for sale that has the teal with a red color.

12-24 month dress I (finally) finished. It sat for probably a week with only the neck casing and elastic needing finished. I plan on starting the next 12-24 month today, using the fabric with pink flowers on it I used on L's dress with red-ish sleeves.